Wining & Dining: Massachusetts Wineries

We’re still in a gas crisis, and despite reading pages and pages of fluttery feature copy dedicated to the “staycation," we’re still not convinced that eating at Petit Robert Bistro is as good as going to France, that strolling through the North End is akin to a trip to Italy, or that New York Pizza’s pies are as delicious as those served in their namesake city. But grapes are grapes, so stop crying about your canceled trip to Napa--we’ve got your wineries right here. In fact, there are wineries all over New England. Most are open for weekend tastings, and many even feature beaches and bucolic farmland scenery. Below, we review a few local vineyards--we'll have more for you to savor tomorrow.

North of Boston

Local wine mag The Second Glass just took a trip out to Lincoln winery Turtle Creek, which was also profiled last year in the Globe as the only winery in Lincoln. Owner Kip Kumler, a former electrical engineer, has built a setup for high-quality wine that SG writer Michael Corbett deems “more sophisticated than many I have seen in both Napa and Australia." Like many area vintners, Kumler has to truck in grapes from California to supplement his vineyard's yield, but he’s working to expand the potential of both his grapes and his production process. His wine research makes his winery more like a lab than a sprawling resort--your grandmother might not love touring his setup, but your nerdy cousin at MIT would. Visits by private appointment only; email info at TurtleCreekWine.com or call 781-259-9976 for details.

Newport

Newport Vineyards, spread out across 175 of the highest acres on Aquidneck Island outside Newport, RI, is the largest grower of wine grapes in New England. They have four separate vineyards and offer guided tours at 1pm and 3pm. While you’re there, try the “Rhody Coyote” hard apple cider, named after a coyote the Nunes family is helping to track as part of the Naragansett Bay Coyote Study. While Newport’s known as a tony resort town, you can still mingle with the hoi polloi at Easton's Beach (1st Beach), one of the few nonprivate beaches in town: it has a carousel, aquarium, and a beachside bar, the Atlantic Beach Club, which has live music on weekend afternoons. Parking is $5-10. At dinnertime, pack it in and drive to the Cheeky Monkey in Narragansett, whose silly name belies its sophisticated comfort food menu, with dishes like lobster bisque, homemade mushroom ravioli, and free range brick-seared chicken.

Cape Cod

Just outside the arts and nightlife hub of Provincetown, Truro Vineyards is located on a sleepy farm in Truro, Mass. On July 3, the winemaker recently unveiled a new, green system of barreling and storage, built with recycled materials. Step inside the restored 1830s farmhouse for a glass of wine, poured from a bottle emblazoned with their bright watercolor logo, or on hot days, sip samples in the shade of their outdoor tent. Tours take off at 1pm and 3pm daily from May-November, giving you an excuse to escape the hubbub of Provincetown on a Cape weekend--or to get your evening of drinking started early. Your call. We recommend saving this daytrip for September, when tourists have cleared out of the Cape, room rates have come down out of the stratosphere, and the vineyard holds their annual "Truro Treasures" Grape Stomp and Jazz Festival (Sept 21, 2-5pm). For dinner, stop into the landmark Bubala’s by the Bay in Provincetown, which features Truro’s bottles on their wine list.

Winery wisdom contributed by Ryan Rose Weaver